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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 70 (Thursday, April 12, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18511-18513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6938]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on 
Transportation Improvements Within Downtown Dallas, TX

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Dallas Area Rapid 
Transit (DART) have issued this notice to advise interested agencies 
and the public of their intent to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) concurrent with a planning Alternatives Analysis (AA) 
for transportation improvements in the central business district (CBD) 
of Dallas, Texas. The EIS will be prepared in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended. The EIS 
is being initiated to alleviate the capacity constraints on the LRT 
System within the Dallas CBD. The purpose of this Notice of Intent is 
to alert interested parties regarding the plan to prepare the EIS, to 
provide information on the purpose and need of the proposed transit 
project, to invite participation in the EIS process, including comments 
on the scope of the EIS proposed in this notice, and to announce that 
public scoping meetings will be conducted.

DATES: Comment Due Date: Written comments on the scope of the 
alternatives and issues to be considered should be sent to Ernie G. 
Martinez, Project Manager by June 1, 2007. See ADDRESSES below.
    Scoping Meetings: Two public scoping meetings will be held at the 
DART Headquarters, located at 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75266 
in the Board Room on:

--May 2, 2007 at 12 noon and on
--May 3, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.

Scoping material will be available at the meetings, on the project Web 
site at http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/dallascbd.asp or by 
contacting Mr. Martinez, DART Project Manager, as indicated under 
ADDRESSES below.
    The meetings will be accessible to persons with disabilities. 
Individuals requiring special assistance to participate fully, such as 
a translator or sign-language interpreter, should notify DART in 
advance as indicated under ADDRESSES below.
    Interagency Coordination Meeting: DART will conduct an interagency 
coordination meeting with Federal, State, and local agencies with an 
interest in the project. Invitations announcing the coordination 
meeting and inviting the agencies to participate will be sent.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the project scope, including the 
project's purpose and need, the range of alternatives to be considered, 
and the environmental and community impact issues should be sent to: 
Ernie G. Martinez, Project Manager, DART Planning, P.O. Box 660163, 
1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75266-7213. Telephone (214) 749-
3201, Fax (214) 749-3844, E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John Sweek, Community Planner, 
Federal Transit Administration, Region VI; Telephone (817) 978-0550. E-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Scoping

    The FTA and DART invite interested individuals, organizations, and 
Federal, State, and local agencies to participate in refining purpose 
and need for the project, the alternatives, including: modes, 
alignments and station locations, and the environmental and community 
impacts to be assessed. Scoping comments should identify significant 
social, economic, or environmental issues related to the proposed 
project. Scoping comments may be made at the scoping meetings or in 
writing no later than June 1, 2007 (see DATES and ADDRESSES above). 
Scoping comments may also suggest alternatives that are less costly or 
more responsive to environmental issues, while still satisfying the 
project's purpose and need. Scoping comments should focus on the issues 
and alternatives for analysis, and not on a preference for a particular 
alternative. Additional information on the EIS process, the project's 
purpose and need, and the alternatives and impact issues to be 
addressed will be included in the ``Scoping Information Report''. 
Copies of the scoping information document, as well as the Public 
Involvement and Agency Coordination Plan, will be available from DART 
at the scoping meetings, at DART Headquarters and on the DART Web site 
(http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/dallascbd.asp), thereafter (see 
DATES and ADDRESSES above).

[[Page 18512]]

II. Description of the Study Area

    The area that is historically considered to be Downtown Dallas has 
primarily been an employment center. This area is bounded by a freeway 
loop formed by U.S. 75 and IH 45 to the east, IH 30 to the south, IH 
35E to the west and Woodall Rogers Freeway to the north. This is 
changing. Downtown Dallas is expanding, and our Study Area boundaries 
are laid out to reflect that. They consist of Industrial Blvd--from IH 
30 north to Oak Lawn; Oak Lawn--from Industrial east to McKinnon; 
McKinnon--from Oak Lawn south to Cedar Springs/Turtle Creek; Cedar 
Springs/Turtle Creek--from McKinnon northeast to Hall; Hall--from Cedar 
Springs/Turtle Creek south to Gaston; Gaston--from Hall west to Malcolm 
X; Malcolm X--from Gaston south to IH 30; IH 30--from Malcolm X west to 
Central; Central--from IH 30 south to Gano; Gano--from Central west to 
Wall; Wall--from Gano south to McKee; McKee--from Wall west to Austin; 
Austin from McKee north to IH 30; IH 30--from Austin west to 
Industrial. Also, the traditional core has been transitioning into a 
more mixed-use environment as new residential, retail and entertainment 
developments are completed. Recent additions to the Convention Center, 
planned improvements to the Farmers Market, the expanding Arts 
District, the first downtown grocery store in the modern day era, and 
the new American Airlines Center are changing the makeup of downtown 
Dallas.
    On October 24, 2006, the DART Board approved the 2030 Transit 
System Plan. While the Plan addresses all modes operated by DART, the 
rail element will influence needs in the CBD and must be considered as 
part of the CBD AA/DEIS. Rail recommendations include approximately 43 
miles of additional rail service, of which two (2) LRT lines would be 
routed through the CBD. Information on this plan is on http://www.dart.org.

III. Project Purpose and Need

    The proposed action is intended to achieve the following goals:
     Increase transit capacity within Downtown Dallas;
     Improve regional mobility;
     Improve LRT operational flexibility, service reliability 
and efficiency through the CBD;
     Serve new CBD markets by increasing transit access and 
circulation between major activity centers; and
     Maximize potential for transit oriented and economic 
development.
    The specific needs to be addressed by the proposed action include:
     Relieve CBD LRT capacity constraint;
     Serve inner-city infill development and general system 
growth demands;
     Serve new CBD transit markets;
     Enhance CBD development potential;
    As part of the scoping and public and agency involvement process, 
these goals and objectives may be refined and expanded.

IV. Alternatives

    The initial alternatives presented below correspond to Downtown 
transportation problems and to the above-described project purpose and 
need. The alternatives are grouped into the traditional and Federal 
process-required categories, including: No-Action, Baseline/
Transportation Systems Management (TSM) and Build Alternatives.
    Consideration of a second LRT alignment began when the City of 
Dallas and DART entered into the Master Interlocal Agreement (ILA) in 
1992. As noted earlier, the ILA requires DART to supplement the current 
transit mall when specified operating and/or ridership measures are 
met. It is anticipated that additional build corridors and alignment 
options will be identified during scoping.

No Action

    This alternative will consist of existing and committed projects 
included in the MPO long-range plan. This alternative is intended to 
serve as the alternative against which build alternatives are compared. 
Examples of committed projects are: the Super LRV fleet; signal 
prioritization along the existing mall; Bryan/Hawkins Junction 
improvements; trolley line extension from Ross Avenue to the existing 
mall; and, additional CBD bus service.

Baseline/Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative

    This alternative will consist of the No Action Alternative 
``committed projects'', as well as additional relatively low-cost 
improvements. These improvements would be combined to alleviate LRT 
congestion without making a fixed guideway transit investment. This 
alternative will serve as the baseline alternative for New Starts 
evaluation purposes. Elements of this alternative would include, but 
not be limited to: Fully low-floor vehicle fleet; improved signals/
train control; adjusted headways on selected routes; additional 
junction improvements; improved bus/LRT connections; LRT shuttles with 
forced transfers outside the CBD; and additional CBD bus service that 
would likely include bus feeder service, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) 
service that would serve as a bus bridge between radial LRT lines 
terminating at the CBD boundary, and combined bus feeder/circulator 
service.

Build Alternatives

    The Build Alternative proposed at this early stage is LRT in a 
broad corridor recommended by a recent City of Dallas Downtown 
transportation study. The Comprehensive Transportation Plan for the 
Central Business District, (June 2005), which evaluated alignment 
options, resulted in the recommendation of a corridor for a second LRT 
alignment through the CBD that is generally bounded by Woodall Rodgers 
Freeway, Field Street, Commerce Street, Young Street and Lamar Street. 
Within this broad corridor, there is a range of possible alignment 
options. A specific recommendation was made in the City study for a 
tunnel alignment between Ross and Commerce Avenues to avoid an at-grade 
crossing of the existing LRT mall and short north-south blocks.
    While alignment options outside of this broad corridor have been 
identified and studied over the past several years, this broad corridor 
will be the starting point for the scoping process. Other previously 
studied alternatives and new alternatives may be added to the list of 
initial alternatives during the scoping process.
    The Build Alternative will include a new LRT alignment through 
downtown. Possible alignment variations include:
    All surface with at-grade crossing of existing LRT mall;
    Combination surface/subway with or without underground stations;
    All subway with underground stations; and a
    Modern streetcar system. A build alternative without a modern 
streetcar system will also be tested to understand the relationship 
between the two modes.

V. Probable Effects

    The FTA and DART will evaluate all significant environmental, 
social, and economic impacts of the alternatives analyzed in the EIS. 
Impact areas to be addressed include: economic development; land 
acquisition, displacements, and relocation of existing uses; cultural 
resource impacts including impacts on historical and archaeological 
resources and parklands/recreational areas; noise and vibration; safety 
and security; utilities; traffic and transportation impacts.
    Potential impacts will be addressed for the long-term operation of 
each alternative and the short-term

[[Page 18513]]

construction period. Measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate all 
adverse impacts will be identified, evaluated, and adopted as 
appropriate.

VI. FTA Procedures

    In accordance with FTA policy, all Federal environmental laws, 
regulations, and executive orders affecting project development, 
including but not limited to the regulations of the Council on 
Environmental Quality implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508, the 
joint FHWA/FTA environmental regulations (23 CFR part 771), the 
project-level conformity requirements of the Clean Air Act, Section 404 
of the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the 
Endangered Species Act, and Section 4(f) of the Department of 
Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 303) will be addressed to the maximum 
extent practicable during the NEPA process. Following the scoping 
process, a Draft EIS will be prepared and made available for public 
review and comment. One or more public hearings will be held during the 
Draft EIS public comment period. On the basis of the Draft EIS and 
comments received, the project will be revised or further refined as 
necessary and the Final EIS prepared.

    Issued on: April 5, 2007.
Robert C. Patrick,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. E7-6938 Filed 4-11-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P
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